**Halo 4 Spartan Ops: Expendable, from Apex to Switchback's rescue**

**Halo 4 Spartan Ops: Expendable, from Apex to Switchback's rescue** **MCC guide. Episode 8 spoilers.** You're back on Requiem, and the Covenant keep arriving exactly where they can make the next objective unpleasant. Expendable also resolves the missing-Spartans thread from Scattered. Follow the changing objectives through the rescue and extraction stages; several chapters have another fight after the task that initially brought you there. **1. Unfinished Business** At Apex, fight into the caves and reach the shield maintenance control. Overload it and move away from the barrier before it explodes. Beyond it, shut down the first portal, continue through the tunnel and work toward the second and third. After all three portals are off, destroy the incoming Wraith and its supporting troops. Clear the designated landing area and use its control to call in Lancer. Then move to your own extraction point, defeat the reinforcements and mark that landing zone as well. This route takes you uphill through territory visited during Backup. The first portal doesn't mark the end of the caves, and the last portal doesn't end the fighting. Keep some heavy ammunition for the Wraith instead of spending everything on the final portal's defenders. A Ghost can help with the open sections, but driving deeper into a crowded cave means giving up much of its maneuvering room. If you can't see a clear route back out, thin the defenders before committing the vehicle. **2. Majestic Rescue** Clear the starting area and use the deployed Warthogs if they suit your approach. There are **three artillery pieces**, each powered by **two nearby conduits**. Destroy both conduits to overload each gun. Shooting the gun's shield directly wastes ammunition. One artillery position is on the hill ahead of the starting area; the other two lie around the far side of the central structure. I'd start with the more isolated gun, then use the cleared ground to plan the next approach. Keep moving when artillery fires toward you. Don't remain parked beside a conduit while waiting for a gunner to finish it if a shot is already landing nearby. Circle back after the blast rather than sacrificing the vehicle to finish a nearly destroyed target. Once all three guns are down, return toward the landing zone and finish the remaining Covenant, including the heavy reinforcements. Murphy cannot pick you up just because the artillery objective is complete. Solo drivers should give an allied gunner a clear angle instead of constantly facing the Warthog's nose directly at the target. A wide turn with room to escape is more useful than wedging the vehicle against the machinery you're trying to destroy. **3. Lancer** Clear the opening position and locate the marked Elite controlling the camouflage around the shield generators. Kill that Elite, then destroy the **three revealed generators** to remove the barrier. At the main entrance, clear the defenders outside. The Covenant open the doors to counterattack; defeat them and move into the caves. Fight through the occupied cavern to the Forerunner structure and investigate the signal. Open the chamber, clear its guards and release Switchback from the shielded cell. Escort the rescued Spartans back through the route to the exit, eliminate the final reinforcements and reach the Pelican. The hidden generators are an objective sequence, not a test of whether you can spot invisible objects. If the barrier is still up, check for the marked Elite before pouring ammunition into empty space. Inside the cavern, take the vehicle and turret threats seriously before concentrating on scattered infantry. A clear stretch of floor can tempt you to drive forward, but it isn't safe if a gun emplacement farther back has an uninterrupted shot down it. Clear one useful firing position, then advance to it. **4. Crystal Ball** Enter Lockup from the landing area and clear the first structure. Open the marked doors, watch for the cloaked sword Elite in the connecting passage, and enter the large area containing the **three signal jammers**. Destroy those jammers and clear the reinforcements. Follow the UNSC signal into the adjoining chamber, where a captured Pelican is suspended by energy tethers. Defeat the defenders, then operate **four tether controls**. Finish the last reinforcement wave, including the Hunters, and extract. The strike that destroys the captured Pelican follows your evacuation. Don't waste time trying to fly the captured ship. It is the source of the security problem you're dismantling, not your transport home. The jammer room is a good place to avoid tunnel vision. Watch the Wraiths while working on the objective, and don't stand exposed just to empty a magazine into one device. The safer rhythm is to clear an angle, damage the jammer, move when the heavy weapons target you and return once you've recovered. In the Pelican chamber, leave yourself enough room to handle the final Hunters. The tethers shutting down doesn't mean the extraction path is already clear. **5. Glassman** Clear the Control facility and follow Glassman's marked survey locations. The first is inside the structure, down a ramp. Allow each scan to complete, then move to the next marked location while handling the Covenant counterattacks. As the sequence continues, activate the defensive beam turrets, the heavy-weapon supplies and both anti-aircraft systems when directed. Finish the ground attackers while the activated guns deal with the incoming aircraft. Return to the landing zone once the area is secure. These controls give you practical help. Use the weapons Glassman reveals rather than trying to stretch an exhausted starting loadout through every new wave. Before leaving a supply location, reload and decide which target your second weapon is meant to handle. Once the anti-aircraft guns are operating, concentrate on the enemies still threatening you on the ground. A burning dropship overhead looks dramatic, but a Wraith with a clear shot at your position is the more immediate problem. **Episode check** The five completions are Unfinished Business, Majestic Rescue, Lancer, Crystal Ball and Glassman. If you're tracking solo Legendary progress, record those chapter completions individually. The rescue is the end of Lancer, not the end of the episode.